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Literary notes about benignity (AI summary)

Literary authors employ "benignity" to evoke a sense of gentle, gracious kindness that often subtly contrasts harsher traits or reinforces noble character. In political or social commentary, for instance, Burke’s use hints at a leader’s vulnerable generosity manipulated for personal gain [1], while Dickens portrays it as an intelligent, almost conspiratorial twinkle in Mr. Smallweed’s expression [2]. The term also bridges the human and the divine; its invocation in sacred contexts, like the biblical reference to God’s guiding benignity [3, 4], underscores a transcendent warmth and mercy. Moreover, authors frequently use benignity to enrich character portrayals—whether through a reassuring smile or a compassionate demeanor that softens even the sternest authority [5, 6, 7].
  1. They are only known to their sovereign by kissing his hand, for the offices, pensions, and grants, into which they have deceived his benignity.
    — from The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12) by Edmund Burke
  2. Mr. Smallweed, approving of what is set before him, conveys intelligent benignity into his ancient eye and winks upon her.
    — from Bleak House by Charles Dickens
  3. Knowest thou not that the benignity of God leadeth thee to penance?
    — from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
  4. Adore the benignity of God, in that He is willing to receive you on your mere repentance; a repentance which He Himself enables you to exercise.
    — from The Preacher's Complete Homiletic Commentary on the Books of the Bible, Volume 15 (of 32) The Preacher's Complete Homiletic Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, Volume I by Alfred Tucker
  5. So saying, he quitted me; but with a benignity in his countenance and manner that infused not only consolation but joy into my heart.
    — from Coelebs In Search of a Wife by Hannah More
  6. He at first knit his brows; then smiled with more unctuous benignity than ever.
    — from The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
  7. On her death-bed the fortitude and benignity of this best of women did not desert her.
    — from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

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